When I heard Gov. Sarah Palin call for privacy for her pregnant teenager, my thoughts turned to the girls who arrive mornings at Planned Parenthood.
I agree that 17-year-old Bristol Palin’s personal particulars should remain off-limits.
But that’s hardly the point.
For a VP pick who would deny the most private rights we have as Americans, an appeal to the nation on grounds of privacy seems profoundly hypocritical.
Palin and John McCain — the man who these days may best be described as her radicalized running mate — are championing a movement that would start with overturning Roe vs. Wade. That movement also threatens the earlier Griswold vs. Connecticut ruling on contraception, which guaranteed the right of privacy not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.
Americans could lose not only safe, legal ways to end unwanted pregnancies, but even contraceptive means to prevent them. Those reforms may not float among the 73 percent of Coloradans who believe women should have the right to make decisions about their own reproductive health free from governmental interference.
Contrary to what McCain and his surrogates say, the dish about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy has as little to do with sexism against her mother as it does with the media sniffing for dirt.
Americans are buzzing about the moon-faced high schooler because she embodies the failure of the very abstinence policies Republicans are working so hard to promote.
Several studies, including one for Congress, have found that abstinence programs have no effect on the behavior of youth. They also have found that kids in such programs are no more or less likely to have unprotected sex.
As a governor’s daughter — and now a martyrized Madonna figure extolled by the rejuvenated right — Bristol Palin presumably enjoys more resources than most pregnant teens.
Let it be noted that her mother has opposed sex- education programs in Alaska and has slashed funding for a program benefiting homeless teenage moms.
For his part, McCain has voted against funding for teen-pregnancy prevention and benefits for young mothers who can’t afford the child care to stay in school.
Let’s assume that Bristol Palin, in deciding to keep her baby, has made the right choice for herself and her family (not to mention her mom’s candidacy).
That said, the ticket’s anti-choice stances could impinge on the private lives of Americans far more than eight weeks of media scrutiny could have on a girl whose mom thrust her onto a stage, her belly covered with a spit-up cloth, holding her baby brother with Down syndrome.
Sure, the private lives of candidates’ kids should be off-limits to the news media. Just as the bodies and decisions of American women should be off-limits to government.
Bristol Palin’s choices should be as private as those of the clients heckled each morning on their way to appointments at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
“I love you, Mommy, please don’t kill me,” shouted one of the abortion protesters on ladders outside the gate Wednesday. “You’ll regret this for the rest of your life.”
I was struck by the lack of privacy afforded the teenager in the blue miniskirt and the young woman in the Arby’s uniform as they crossed the parking lot. And I couldn’t help but notice their determination as they shrugged off their hecklers and walked confidently into the clinic door.
Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.
